Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 3:50 AM ET

GSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.24
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$38-7.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.95±14.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.36689 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3023.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$128Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $41

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$42+1.8%8d
Fri, Sep 18$39-5.4%36d
Fri, Dec 18$38-7.9%127d
Fri, Mar 19$38-7.9%218d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot38253035404550$1M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 38 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot38253337414549358358
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GSL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot382533374145492828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot25303540455065%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 41303438424650+$35K$35K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.01340.03370.04-0.01-0.15
0.85-0.01350.03710.05-0.01-0.19
0.81-0.01360.04140.06-0.01-0.23
0.77-0.01370.04700.07-0.01-0.27
0.72-0.01380.05290.08-0.01-0.33
0.66-0.01390.05820.09-0.01-0.38
0.60-0.01400.06220.09-0.01-0.44
0.54-0.01410.06450.09-0.01-0.50
0.47-0.01420.06510.09-0.01-0.56
0.41-0.01430.06380.09-0.01-0.62
0.35-0.01440.06110.09-0.01-0.68
0.30-0.01450.05700.08-0.01-0.73
0.25-0.01460.05210.07-0.01-0.77
0.21-0.01470.04670.07-0.01-0.81
0.17-0.01480.04110.06-0.00-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2533374145492K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot2532374247602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 4K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: GSL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk